Original Sin - Where O death is your sting? (A study of 1 Corinthians 15)
1 Corinthians 15:21 is one of the verses used to prove that because of Original Sin, the earth is young. Here is the verse:
21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
The reasoning is as follows:
- Given:Â Jesus died for our sins
- Given: Adam introduced sin
- Given: God said that when Adam sinned, he would die
- Therefore:Â Death resulted from Adam’s sin
- Therefore:Â There was no death until Adam sinned.
- Therefore:Â Evolution could not have occurred.Â
- Therefore:Â The Earth is young.
And 1 Corinthians 15:21 is offered as confirmation of this simple proof. However, does this verse really confirm this proof? Or might it actually disprove it? 1 Corinthians 15 is a long chapter that Paul wrote in order to cut through some misconceptions about the resurrection. He explains this misconception in verse 12.
 12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
It would seem that some of the Corinthians believed that people who died would not resurrect as Daniel had prophesied:
Daniel 12:2 - Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
What the Corinthians do not realize is what else they must abandon if they disregard the resurrection. Paul explains.
 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
And so we have the context of most of Chapter 15; it is a discussion of the resurrection and the necessity for believing it.  As we read on, keep in mind that Daniel clearly wrote that saved and unsaved alike will be resurrected for judgement in the end times. John confirms this in Revelation 20, and Paul even confirms it later on in this chapter, verse 22 (which we will get to further down). Therefore, discussion of resurrection (v. 13) is not a discussion of salvation per se, though your belief in it determines the usefulness of your faith (v. 14). And what if the resurrection is false? Do we merely have a useless faith?
15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
Here is where Paul relates death to sin, and they are not equivalent.  As he hinted at in verse 14, if Christ has not resurrected, then the apostles are false witnesses and no one will be resurrected. Daniel 12:2 is therefore false and any religion that teaches it is futile.  Without our faith, we are left in our sins, and the dead died in theirs.
 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
Pitied indeed. I do not think that the anti-resurrectionist Corinthians truly had this in mind. Thankfully, Paul wrote 1 Cor. 15 to help them think it through! But, he doesn’t leave it at that… not by a long shot! After presenting the negative case against their misconceptions, he now switches to the positive case.
 20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.
Now, let us discuss the true meaning of verse 21. What death is Paul taking about here? Is our verse discussing Original Sin? Did Adam introduce physical death into the world, according to this verse?
Well, at least through verse 16, Paul is not discussing Adam’s sin. He is discussing the resurrection of all men, saved and unsaved alike. Sin is not part of this point. The reason Paul brought it up is simple. If Daniel 12:2 is not true, then Christ didn’t resurrect, and we are not saved; if He did rise, then we are saved. Simple. As for the relationship between resurrection and sin, we saw in v. 17 that without resurrection, we are still in our sins. However, Christ did resurrect (v. 20) and so we are no longer in our sins. Not only that, but but we will resurrect through Christ, just as our physical death is through Adam. Why through Christ? Because we are righteous when we follow him, and we will follow Him to resurrection. Why through Adam? Because we are sinners when we follow him, and we will follow him to death. But, just as Christ’s resurrection did not actually introduce resurrection, Adam did not introduce physical death. However, just as the resurrection was known and existed before Christ, death was known and existed before Adam.  Yet, Adam is the first man who loved God, the first to obey God, and the first to directly disobey God (Eve’s disobedience was indirect, disobeying the word of God as communicated through Adam to her). So even though the fossil record tells us of the physical death preceding, Adam was yet the first type of Christ, and the first anti-type of Christ. He is where God’s relationship with mankind truly begins, and is therefore the example Paul uses in scripture.
 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Had Adam’s first born son been the first sinner, Adam still would have died, and all would die in Adam… but then sin would have come from Adam’s son. I don’t know how different theology would then be, but perhaps it would have been clearer that Paul never meant to conflate physical death with sin.Â
Now, did you see the words “all” in verse 22? “All” die; “all” will be made alive. If the death in verse 21 was meant to refer to the sin from which we must be redeemed, then verse 22 would only refer to Christ’s redeeming work. However, Daniel 12:2 is the context of Paul’s discussion on resurrection, and so the words “all” in verse 22 not only say the saved will die and resurrect; the unsaved will die and resurrect as well. In fact, notice the order in which the resurrections will take place.
 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
In other words, the unsaved are not resurrected right away. In fact, John writes of this in more detail in Revelation 20:1-6, where he talks of the saved getting resurrected in two groups. The first group consists of the saints who died during the tribulation. Those live through Christ’s 1,000 year 1,000 year reign. The rest of the saved are resurrected right after Christ’s reign. Notice how John refers to the saints’ resurrection as the 1st resurrection; this is the resurrection Paul refers to above when he says “those who belong to him”. Paul then writes of the second resurrection, right after Christ’s reign. At this point the rest of the saved and all of the unsaved are resurrected together.
 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
John’s narrative in Revelation 20 describes it this way…
 11Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
With death completely destroyed, Paul continues…
 27For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
 29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
   ”Let us eat and drink,
      for tomorrow we die.” 33Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
Do you see what Paul said in verse 31? He dies every day, just as surely as he glories in Christ. In other words, every day, Paul dies just as surely as he is saved. Dies? Well not physically, so Paul must mean spiritually, meaning he dies a spiritual death every day. Why? Well, he contrasts it with salvation, so this spiritual death is because he still sins. However, Paul is not living in his sins, yet his sins are still there.
This is an important point, because Adam was supposed to have died at the very time he ate of the apple. Well, I can now tell you that he did die, in the same respect that Paul dies every day! Adam died spiritually. It is true that Adam introduced death into the world… it was spiritual death however, not physical, and Paul clearly understood this. Had Paul meant sin and physical death to be connected, like much of the church does today, then verse 31 would be confusing, and would shed no light on Adam’s death in Genesis 3. And so we can now see that there is physical death, spiritual death, and sin. Spiritual death results from sin; physical death results from our bodies failing, just as they always have. In fact, Paul comes back to this very topic several verses later.
 42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
See? Adam’s physical body was never immortal, because his natural body needed was perishable, and it was made perishable in order to be sown, and that can only occur in death. As Paul writes in v. 36, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” So, to go to Heaven, Adam always had to die… physically. His spiritual death however was his own choice. So, he may not have introduced physical death, but he did dishonor God and his own body. You know he did, because of the shame Adam felt being naked after he sinned. His body was dishonored, but it did not remain that way…
 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
      If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
But we’re not out of the woods yet, regarding Original Sin. Paul has yet another passage that we must discuss:
 50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Once again, Adam had to physically die, sin or no sin. Even if one did not sin, they would still need to be resurrected in Christ, because flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom.Â
Then Paul writes of the people alive at the 2nd coming. Will God kill them just to resurrect them?  How will they get their new bodies?Â
 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
And so it would seem that some Christians will simply be caught up into their new body. So perhaps Adam did not actually have to die if God had allowed him to live for 10,000 years, but he did still require his immortal body to take over his mortal one. He would have been changed, just like the rest of us. Once again, the result of the resurrection, being in our new body, is not a point about sin, but transition, from earth to Heaven. That is all v. 21 was ever meant to be about.
 55“Where, O death, is your victory?
      Where, O death, is your sting?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
Here, Paul finally connects death and sin. However, the usual application of Original Sin would make it seem that the sting of sin is death! Doesn’t Paul have it backwards? Not at all. We do. Sin did not cause death; on the contrary, without sin, death simply does not sting. But to the extent that our sin stings us in death, that sting is in proportion to the law under which we’re judged. But, for those living in faith, Christ suffered that sting for us. And so we will die, and it will not sting.
57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
 58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Adam did not introduce death; he introduced its sting.